How do astronauts in the ISS know which way is up? Does it matter?
In: Planetary Science
There isn’t any up or down in space, so it doesn’t matter. For convention, they refer to the side of the station facing the Earth as the “deck” and the opposite side as the “overhead”, but there is no floor or ceiling and no up or down. The astronauts can and do use all surfaces for all purposes. For example, in one of the modules, there are 4 sleep stations on each wall, which, if you were on Earth, would mean that someone sleeps on the floor, 2 people sleep on each wall, and one person sleeps on the ceiling. But since they’re in microgravity, it doesn’t matter.
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